Ice Dance
by Hatake Megumi
Summary: She was the daughter of a famous figure skater, but had trouble jumping. He was a prankster who got punished with figure skating lessons. Both of them loved skating and skating with each other. Dedicated to Vancouver 2010. Naruhina.
1. Dancing with Friends

**Ice Dance**

AN: Hello everybody! It's been awhile since I wrote. To my fans from **Two Weeks**, I apologize but the new chapter has been in the works since… forever. I will get around to finishing it, but I'm trying to find the humour and inspiration that's really needed to get that story off the ground.

Anyways, welcome to my new story, **Ice Dance**, which I will finish ASAP or hopefully by the end of 2010 as it is a story dedicated to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics as well as my favourite ice dancers, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Enjoy!

* * *

Hinata loved everything about figure skating. She loved lacing her skates up at practice at five in the morning, she loved the feeling of the blade gliding on the pristine ice, the cold arena, her horrendously tacky costumes and the way she had to time her movements to her music. The only thing she didn't love about skating was, well, the pressure from her father, Hyuuga Hiashi, a former Olympic champion and her coach.

"Hinata, that entry into your flip was sloppy and you were on the wrong edge! You're 12, Hinata! You've been skating for 8 years and you still can't do any triple jumps! Your sister is 7 and she managed to land a triple toe the other day!!" (1)

"I-I'll work harder, father," she muttered, fighting back tears. She was never that great at jumping, not to mention that puberty and her newfound breasts made it even harder to land her jumps.

Her father sighed. "Your spirals (3), spins and footwork were good as usual. Your sister isn't as flexible as you are so those elements don't look as good when she does them."

"Thank you, father."

"Go take a short break and we'll continue to work on your double flip."

* * *

Naruto started figure skating because of a small prank he pulled when he was 4.

"NARUTO!" yelled his adoptive father, Iruka, as he walked out of the change room after hockey practice.

"What's up dad?" he asked with a grin.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE HOT CHOCOLATE AT THE ARENA CAFÉ???" he yelled.

"I have no clue – "

"Yes you do because the employees saw you lurking there yesterday! So tell me, what did you do? Actually, no, I'll tell you what you did, you replaced the sugar container with a container full of salt so when they made the hot chocolate today, it was salty!!!"

It was Naruto's hobby to play pranks around the arena. He practically lived there since Iruka was the rink manager and as a result, he had free rein of the place.

"Seriously, after all those other pranks you played, I've dealt out all the punishments I could think of – being coach Ibiki's gopher, helping Kotetsu sharpen rental skates… What do I have to do to get you to stop playing these pranks?" Iruka took one look into Naruto's eyes and realized that nothing would stop his mischief. Although…

"Naruto?"

"Yes, dad?"

"Ms. Tsunade is coaching one of her students this afternoon…"

"Okay…"

"Her student's a young lady, the same age as you are and she's being coached in ice dance."

"What's that have to do with me?" Naruto asked quizzically. He didn't like the mischievous tone of his father's voice.

"She needs a partner, and guess who that'll be?"

"WHAT???"

Grudgingly, Naruto stuck with his new figure skating lessons albeit the taunts from his hockey team. To his father's surprise, Naruto was quite the figure skater. His edges and physical strength made him quite the ice dance partner, however even with a legendary coach and long hours of practice…

"Naruto, I'm quitting ice dancing," said Sakura, his ice dance partner of eight years.

"Why, Sakura???" demanded Naruto. Admittedly, one of the few reasons that made him continue with figure skating was that he got to hold Sakura's hand everyday.

"I've been taking lessons at another rink for awhile… I kind of like jumping and the throw jumps, so I think I'm going to go into pairs skating." (4)

"Oh…"

"Well, good luck Naruto!" She waved and walked off. Feeling glum, he put on his skates. No matter how bad his day was, skating always made him feel better.

There was one other person on the ice. Naruto followed her with his eyes and he saw her perform a three-turn before going into a flip. Unfortunately, she fell. The girl sat on the ice for a bit and started to cry. Naruto decided to skate over.

* * *

Hinata had the worst afternoon. After a brief lesson with her father, she set off by herself to perfect her double flip… except she just couldn't do it. In fact, she hadn't been able to land any of her jumps all afternoon. That last flip attempt was the straw that broke the camel's back and she dissolved into tears.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked a boy as he offered his hand.

"I've been t-trying a-and try-ying… all a-afternoon," she sobbed. She didn't care about the fact that she didn't even know this boy. She needed to vent out her frustrations. The boy crouched down beside her and laid an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it, we all have our bad days."

Hinata looked over at her comforter's feet. He was wearing skates with toe picks and was most likely a figure skater.

"Have you ever had a day where you haven't landed a single jump?" she asked.

"Well, many in fact. Although I've always been an ice dancer so I've never landed a single jump in my life," Naruto replied cheerily. Hinata couldn't help but grin.

"Stressing over this isn't going to help," began Naruto. "How about you take a break from jumping and I'll teach you how to waltz." Her got up and offered her his hand. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

Notes:

1. Just some background information on figure skating jumps, in order of difficulty from lowest to highest is: toe, salchow, loop, flip, lutz, axel. Landing any triple jump at Hanabi's age is quite a feat.

2. Puberty is one of those huge hurdles in the life of a figure skater. Not only do they have to adjust to their newly grown limbs but girls have to deal with their not so aerodynamic boobs.

3. Spirals are when a skater raises one leg above hip level as they glide across the ice.

4. Yes, pairs skating and ice dancing differ quite a bit. Both disciplines require two skaters, but in pairs skating, you have to perform jumps, throw jumps and throw lifts. Lifts are always overhead lifts and spins are performed side by side. In ice dance, you aren't allowed to jump, partners have to perform dance spins, or spins in which both partners are touching each other throughout the spin and no overhead lifts are allowed.


	2. Dancing with Father

**Ice Dance**

AN: To all my readers, thank you for your support! I've always wanted to write this story and I think my goal is more to just show my love for the sport and hopefully get other people interested as well.

* * *

Hiashi Hyuuga was a tough man – tough, but not heartless. He and his twin brother, Hizashi, began skating at the age of five. His father wanted to teach his sons discipline, while his mother, a woman whose demands were adoringly fulfilled by all who surrounded her, was just a huge fan of the sport. Their coach, the legendary Jiraiya – infamous for sudden deviations in his routines and for his womanizing ways – instilled a great sense of rivalry between the twins, which led them to push each other to achieve great feats.

However, Hiashi always hated this rivalry; it gave him an inferiority complex. Although both brothers were mostly equal in terms of skill and medals, Hiashi could not help but feel inferior to his brother every time he lost. He began to hate the sport and thus started a huge losing streak in the competition between himself and his brother. One day, an argument erupted between the twins. That day, Hiashi announced his retirement to figure skating to the chagrin of his mother and brother; and although neither of them took this pronouncement seriously, it weighed heavily on their hearts as his mother drove Hizashi to practice without his twin. It was then when it happened. On the way back from the rink, the slippery roads of winter caused their car to hit a tree and thus ended the lives of two of the most important people in Hiashi's life.

A month later, Hiashi went back to the rink and decided to skate again, for his mother and his brother. His love for the sport had rekindled, because he knew that whenever he was on the ice, they would be there with him too. When he had actually retired from the sport to spend more time with his family, he knew that he wanted to teach his children to love the sport as much as he did.

* * *

"Hanabi, for the last time, point your toes!" yelled Hiashi. His daughter rolled her eyes at him and continued her arabesque spiral… without her toes pointed. "Okay, fine, go take a break."

It had been a long day for Hiashi. He had left his other daughter, Hinata at the other practice rink to work on some of her jumps. He hoped that she had made some sort of improvement after that abysmal lesson that morning. Then again, his lesson with Hanabi wasn't going any better.

Although they were sisters, Hinata and Hanabi were very different people and very different skaters. Hinata was five years older than her younger sister and had spent some of her childhood in ballet lessons with her mother. As a result, Hinata had good posture, lovely lines and good flexibility. On the flip side, she was a shy girl and was unconfident, something that worsened as her inability to jump became more and more acute. He had considered putting Hinata with a partner so that she could do pairs skating, (1) but Hiashi could not bear to see his sweet lovely daughter being intimately touched by some strange boy, even if it was part of a skating maneuver.

Hanabi, on the other hand, was a firecracker on the ice. She didn't have the benefit of ballet lessons, seeing that her mother died soon after her birth, but she had undeniable power which allowed her to do huge jumps. If Hiashi could combine Hinata and Hanabi together, he'd have the perfect figure skater – and less teenage girls and boyfriends to deal with. He tried to set up some sort of a friendly rivalry between the siblings to help them develop each others' weaknesses, but it didn't work. Hanabi saw Hinata as a mother figure, while Hinata was too kind to even allow for such a rivalry.

In any case, he was worried about Hanabi's lack of motivation and Hinata's growing feeling of ineptitude, which might cause her to quit the sport entirely.

"I'll see how Hinata is doing," he sighed.

* * *

"Ok, now stroke to the left, kick your foot up," instructed Naruto. "Watch that you don't kick me."

"I think I've got the hang of it now," said Hinata. Naruto had been teaching her one of the basic waltzes for the last hour. (2)

"Do you want to go even faster?"

"Sure!"

* * *

When Hiashi walked into practice rink 1, he was greeted with an unexpected sight. Hinata was skating with a boy… and while he held one of her hands, the other one was on her waist. How dare he! He spotted Tsunade, an ice dance champion before his time standing at the side of the rink watching them.

"Good afternoon, Tsunade sempai."

"Well if it isn't Hiashi Hyuuga, champion extraordinaire," she greeted. They both taught at the same rink but only spoke between their lessons.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Well, my other student quit on me and ditched Naruto over there but he seems to have found himself a new partner. Then again, the kid has always been a bit of a dunce 'cause I bet he doesn't know who she is and what he'll have to deal with for touching Hiashi Hyuuga's precious little girl."

"You got that right," he growled. The boy's face was inches from Hinata's in dance hold. (3)

"Well, if it's any comfort, they make a good pair. She's learning quickly and they're very fast and graceful on the ice. (4) They have good unison for a pair that's been skating together for an hour and good free leg extension (5) and I think Naruto's learning from example because he's pointed his toes this whole time."

Hiashi grumbled. It still didn't erase the fact that the boy was touching her innocent little girl.

* * *

"Hinata, do you trust me?" asked Naruto.

"I… guess?"

"No, Hinata, I need you to completely trust me. Repeat after me: Naruto, I know that you won't drop me."

"Naruto, I know that you won't drop me," said Hinata with a smile.

"We're going to skate straight and then you're going to put your right arm around your shoulders. I'm going to grab your right leg and you're going to swing the other leg over on top of your right."

"W-what?"

"Trust me, it'll be okay."

* * *

"I should probably stop this, she needs to practice that flip," said Hiashi.

"Leave them be, they're going to do something interesting," said Tsunade, putting an arm in front of the concerned father.

Hiashi watched intently, until… "WHAT IS HE DOING TO MY DAUGHTER?" He heard a scream, which was really a squeal of delight as Naruto carrying Hinata bridal style in a straight line lift. (6)

Hinata spotted her father over Naruto's shoulder.

"Hey daddy!" she exclaimed as she giggled with delight. That was the scariest and yet most fun experience of her life. Hiashi was at a loss for words, Hinata had been coming home from the rink in a depressed state for the last month.

"You know, Naruto's not a bad kid. He's also in need of a partner…" started Tsunade.

"Hinata has great potential as a singles skater," affirmed Hiashi. "Besides, there's no glory in ice dance. Most people don't know that the discipline exists anyways." (7)

"True, but I've got a good feeling about these two. They remind me of Asuma and Kurenai."

Asuma and Kurenai were Tsunade's former students. They were paired at a young age but grew to be one of the most successful ice dance teams (and cutest couple) in the history of figure skating. Although Tsunade had coached many ice dance teams, to her, very few could match the magic and beauty they made on the ice. Sadly, that magic disappeared many years ago when Asuma died of a heart attack, leaving Kurenai alone with their child. Tsunade had always hoped to find a team that could show her the love and magic that she once saw and no one, not even Hiashi Hyuuga was going to destroy those hopes.

"I'll talk to Hinata and see what she thinks," said Hiashi. He knew that Tsunade would never say something like that lightly. "Hinata, let's call it a day. Neither you or Hanabi have been making much progress today anyways."

"Ok, daddy!" Hinata turned around. "I'm usually here everyday in the mornings. Come by sometime so we can skate together again!"

"That's great! I'm here everyday too! My dad, Iruka, is rink manager!"

Hiashi happened to hear the last comment.

"His father's Iruka?" he asked Tsunade.

"Does that matter?"

"Well, I've gotten a bit… shirty with him sometimes. The man's a bit annoyed at me I'm sure."

"Don't piss him off more by denying his son a lovely partner then."

"We still need Hinata's opinion on the subject."

"Oh, I think her opinion is pretty clear," said Tsunade with a smirk.

"Why's that?" Hiashi turned around to see Hinata's red face as Naruto gave her a kiss on the cheek. "HINATA! Hurry up, we're leaving!"

* * *

"Hey son, did you have practice today? I heard Sakura quit," said Iruka as he was making dinner.

"Well, Tsunade didn't really do any coaching but I skated around with another girl."

Iruka chuckled. "You make it sound as if you're having some sort of casual affair, which you shouldn't by the way. Who was the girl?"

"I don't know her last name but her name's Hinata. Apparently she's there everyday but I've never seen her before."

Iruka groaned. "Remember a few years back when that Olympic figure skater demanded that I open the rink at like three in the morning?"

"That tight-ass jerk?"

"Naruto…"

"Well, that's what you called him!"

"His name is Hiashi Hyuuga and the girl you were dancing with was his daughter."

"Oh. He seemed like a nice guy… sort of. At least it seemed like he cared about Hinata a lot."

"I'm surprised he didn't castrate you for touching his daughter."

"Is he going to in the near future?" asked Naruto apprehensively.

"Maybe."

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT IN SUCH A RELAXED WAY!?!?! I KISSED HER ON THE CHEEK TODAY! RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!"

"You did WHAT? Naruto, I think you're at the age where you need to learn about the birds and the bees…"

* * *

"Hinata, did you enjoy ice dancing today?" asked Hiashi at dinner.

"Ohhh… Hinata danced with a _boy_..." taunted Hanabi. Her father glared at her.

"It was fun, Tsunade said I could come to Naruto's lessons if I wanted to."

"Do you?" Hiashi asked eagerly.

"Well, Naruto doesn't have a partner…"

"He'll find one soon enough, I'm sure."

"I wouldn't mind taking ice dancing lessons, actually," stated Hinata.

"They'll cut into your training time."

"Can I try them for just little while?" she pleaded.

"Fine." Hinata rarely asked for anything, so Hiashi decided to comply. Not to mention it would give the rink manager one reason to not kick him out after being so demanding last year…

Nonetheless, it was the beginning of a new partnership.

* * *

1) The jumps in pairs skating are not as challenging, but there are other elements that make up for the easier jumps.

2) In ice dance, there are set dances with a certain pattern based on ballroom dances. The more challenging ones usually form the compulsory dance portion of the ice dance competition. The other portions are the original dance and the free dance. See Wikipedia for details.

3) Think of how two people hold each other in ballroom dancing. That's dance hold.

4) Speed and flow are crucial in ice dance. The best teams in the world can do complicated footwork and lifts at high speeds while making it look effortless.

5) Footwork is the most important element in ice dance. Your free leg is the leg you aren't standing on when you kick out with one foot. A lot of teams – even the top ranked ones – tend to just kick and their free legs look like dead wood, while others (see Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir or Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates) have excellent free legs and hold them steady while forming beautiful lines.

6) Ice dance lifts are diverse but are categorized by their trajectory on the ice. The categories are: straight-line, rotational, curve and serpentine (the lift's trajectory looks like an "S").

7) How many of you knew that the discipline existed before this fic?


	3. Dancing with Siblings

**Ice Dance **

AN: I'm so happy that people are enjoying **Ice Dance**. I thought people would get a bit sick of all the figure skating and quit. Just to answer a concern that a wonderful reviewer had on how young everyone is when they first started skating:

Figure skaters have to start at a very young age. Some might denounce it as a wussy sport but it's far from that. Top tier figure skaters spend most of their youth training to be where they are and very few manage to get to the top level if they start past age 6. Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen started later because she chose to concentrate on gymnastics and although she's a brilliant skater, her late start might have contributed to her history of inconsistency. However, top tier late starters are rare but not non-existent. World medalist Johnny Weir started at age 11.

Also, many figure skaters in the singles and pairs disciplines retire before their mid-20s. Ice dancers retire as late as in their mid-30s. So the competitive life of a figure skater is actually, pretty short.

One thing that might have made everything a bit confusing was the sudden jump from age 4 to age 12. When Iruka forced Naruto to dance with Sakura, he was four and then eight years later, she dissolved the partnership, just to make that clear.

I was also hoping that someone would notice, but the story between Asuma and Kurenai in this fic was based off of the true story between Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov who are considered to be one of the best pairs skaters in the history of figure skating.

Also, I'm so happy that a Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir fan is reading this. I'm totally rooting for them at Vancouver 2010. I hope they win gold. Go check out their awesome programs on youtube!

Happy New Year!

* * *

Hinata and Hanabi went to practice alone on Sundays. Hiashi would drive them to the rink at nine in the morning – which was late in Hyuuga standards seeing they usually arrived at five or six – and then pick them up at eleven for brunch. Usually the two sisters would just goof off, other times, they would help each other with their elements.

"Hinata, you need to go into the jump with more speed," said Hanabi, after her sister fell for the umpteenth time in another jump attempt.

"I'm trying, Hana, stop nagging," replied her sister. Since her growth spurt last year, it felt as if her body was constantly refusing to cooperate with her and although her breasts weren't huge, they weren't very comfortable to jump with.

"Hinataaa, do your arabesque spiral again."

"Why this avid interest in my arabesque today, Hana?"

"Because you make it look so pretty."

"Just remember your ballet hands, turn out your foot and point your toes."

Hanabi loved watching her sister skate. Hinata had been having problems jumping since her growth spurt, but her older sister always made everything so graceful. She expressed the delicate music from the top of her head to the tips of her fingers and toes. Hanabi often felt that Hinata was a lovely swan on the ice while she was just a strange contorting spider.

"Hinata, will you practice at the barre with me when we get home this afternoon?"

"Of course, Hana."

Hanabi was also envious of Hinata's generous personality. Her elder sister was always the one to wake her up in the mornings to go to practice, she made sure she packed her lunch when she went to school and listened to her problems if she had any. The only thing her sister couldn't help with was her homework. Hinata wasn't stupid, she just wasn't good at math and science, while Hanabi naturally excelled at all her subjects. Hanabi sometimes wished that she were the elder so that she could be the one to help her sister and to also spend time with the mother she never knew. It didn't matter though, despite not having a mother, Hanabi couldn't have asked for a better family.

* * *

Naruto didn't have any biological siblings. His parents died in an accident just after he was born and was adopted by Iruka, a family friend who also owned the very rink that brought him to ice dance. Like Hanabi, though he couldn't have asked for a happier home. In one sense, Naruto felt that he could create his own family. For example he considered his friend Sasuke a brother, despite Sasuke's unremitting efforts to disclaim any association with him. In any case, he knew that both of them felt a sort of bond with one another seeing that they were both orphans and adopted by a loving family.

Sasuke's parents and older brother were murdered by burglars when he was three. As scarred as he might have been, he was fortunate enough to have been adopted by a friend of his uncle, the renowned pairs skater Kakashi and his skating partner and wife, Megumi. Kakashi and Megumi used to train at Iruka's arena before they retired, hence why Naruto was so acquainted with the boy. The pair decided to coach but at another arena not too far away. On Sundays, they came back to Iruka's rink so Naruto and Sasuke could spend time together.

"You're emo as always," said Naruto.

"That's a nice way to greet a person."

"How's Sakura by the way?"

"She sprained her wrist the other day. She fell on it in a throw jump."

"Ouch. Tell her I said to get better soon."

Sasuke, like his adoptive parents was a pairs skater. By some strange stroke of luck, he was also Sakura's new skating partner.

"So… whaddya wanna do?" asked Naruto. Sometimes he and Sasuke would go hang out some place else when his parents drove him to the arena.

"Dunno."

"Maybe you should practice your throw jumps. Sakura probably fell because you're a sucky partner, unlike me."

"Everyone knows I'm the better partner. Then again, how about I throw you? Maybe you'll fall and break your jaw so you won't be able to talk anymore."

"HEY!"

* * *

"Hinata, skate my short program for me, just the part after my jumps." (1) Because of their Sunday sessions, both sisters often knew all the steps to each others programs.

"I'll need the music though."

"HEY, YOU TWO OUT THERE!" yelled Hanabi. "CAN ONE OF YOU GET IRUKA OR KOTETSU SO HE COULD PLAY MY MUSIC?"

"Did you hear something?" asked Naruto. They were standing right outside practice rink 1.

"I think it came from the rink." Both boys walked in.

"Hey, it's Hinata! And a midget!" exclaimed the blonde boy.

"I'M NOT A MIDGET!" yelled Hanabi.

"Please don't call my sister a midget," berated Hinata.

"Way to go, dobe."

"Shut up, Sasuke."

"Anyways, what's going on Hinata?"

"My sister wants me to help her with program and I need her music."

"Good thing Iruka gave me his keys!"

"Why would anyone trust a moron like you with keys?" asked Sasuke.

"Because Iruka didn't know if we were going to skate and leave our street clothes and stuff in the change room. Geez, I'm not that stupid. Actually, I'm not stupid at all!"

Hinata giggled while Hanabi just gave them a weird look.

"Anyways, this girl's your sister huh, Hinata?" Naruto asked while putting his hand on top of her head.

"HEY!" Hanabi smacked his hand away.

"Her name is Hanabi, not midget and she's 7."

"This is Sasuke… he's sort of like a brother."

Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement.

"Anyways, let me unlock the laptop from the booth and set it up with the speakers. Sasuke and I will get it hooked up in no time!"

When the boys walked away, Hanabi asked, "Who was that blonde boy, Hinata?"

"Naruto, he's going to be my ice dance partner."

"NO WAY! NOT HIM!"

"He was just teasing you, Hana, he wasn't trying to be mean."

"I know that, but if you're doing ice dance, you'll still have time for single skating, right?"

"Hopefully."

"IT'S SET UP!" yelled Naruto from the sound booth. What are you skating to?"

"Nocturne, by Chopin," replied Hinata. Naruto played the song on the laptop and went back to the spectator area to watch. Hinata stood at the side as her sister performed her three jumping passes: a triple toeloop, a double axel, double toeloop combination and a double salchow. (2)

Hinata joined in alongside her sister as she began her spins and footwork sequences. It was obvious that Hinata was better at these parts of the routine. She was better at expressing the softness and beauty of the music. As they began their spiral sequence, Naruto heard Hinata whisper, "Toes."

"The older one's really expressive. She'd do a dramatic ice dance routine justice as much as a more subtle piece," Sasuke commented.

"Glad you think so, 'cause she'll be my new partner!"

"Make sure you don't drop her, dobe."

"I won't you ass!" Naruto yelled back.

On the other side of the rink, the two sisters had finished skating the program and were giving each other hugs.

"You pointed your toes!" exclaimed Hinata happily. "This was so much better than your skate last Sunday."

"If only Hinata was always skating beside me."

"I am, except I'm only invisible." They laughed.

"You better still skate with me even if you are doing ice dance."

"Of course I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"By the way, Hinata, are you sure your partner isn't a complete maniac?"

"I'm pretty sure…"

"Then what on earth is he doing to that black-haired guy?"

Naruto and Sasuke were still in the spectator area, except it looked as if they were trying to pull each other's hair and clothing off.

"GO GET A ROOM!" yelled Hanabi. Both boys stopped immediately. Hinata was giggling behind her sister.

"Hey Hinata, since we can have music, wanna have a go at that waltz again?"

"Sure, just give me a few minutes."

"Perfect, I'll lace up my skates!"

* * *

The pair had been skating together for about half an hour by now and Hinata and Naruto seemed to have moved on to another dance. Sasuke and Hanabi were sitting in the spectator area watching them.

"I've got a feeling that a good part of our Sundays are going to end up like this," stated Hanabi.

"Smart midget."

"Stop calling me that."

"Are you any good at chess?"

"Not really."

"Do you own a DS?"

"A what?"

"It's a portable video game console."

"Daddy won't let us play video games."

"No worries, I got two."

"Why?"

"Both my adoptive parents bought me one for Christmas one year and both ended up being too busy to return it. Naruto and I sometimes spend our Sundays playing Pokemon."

"Nerds."

"I bet I could catch all the pokemon before you can."

"You're on, emo boy."

It was the beginning of a new siblinghood.

* * *

1) In the short programs for single skaters, the skater only has to do three jumps sequences. They usually do them at the beginning when they have the energy. After that is just a sequence of footwork, spins and for the ladies, a spiral sequence.

2) There's a really well made video on the differentiation of jumps made by a fan on youtube. I think it's called Kim Yuna's triple jumps. If you're wondering, Kim Yuna is the 2009 ladies' world champion who is famous for her textbook jumps. Just don't post any negative comments or even constructive criticism on her skating or her rabid fans will eat you alive.


	4. Dancing with Coaches

**Ice Dance**

AN: Wow, thank you all for your wonderful support. I didn't really expect to have so many readers. It made me really happy that my readers were learning a lot about figure skating and enjoying it. I've decided to include a little list below for those who might want to take a look at some good figure skating and some of the top contenders and my personal favourites at the Vancouver Olympics. Just type the entire term on youtube and you should be able to get a good video.

Some possible Olympic medalists in 2010:

Ladies:

Mao Asada 2009 World Team Trophy SP  
Yuna Kim 2009 Worlds SP  
Miki Ando 2009 Worlds SP  
Akiko Suzuki 2009 Grand Prix Final LP

Men:

Daisuke Takahashi 2009 Grand Prix Final SP  
Patrick Chan 2009 4CC SP  
Nobunari Oda 2009 TEB LP  
Johnny Weir 2009 Grand Prix Final SP

Pairs:

Savchenko and Szolkowy 2009 Skate Canada LP  
Shen Xue and Hongbo Zhao 2009 Skate America SP  
Murkatova and Trankov 2009 TEB SP

Ice Dance:

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 2009 Skate Canada FD (I LOVE this team. They are absolute magic!)  
Meryl Davis and Charlie White 2009 Cup of Russia OD  
Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder 2008 Worlds FD (This team has been off the ice for a bit, hence why this video is from 2008.)  
Tanith Belbin and Bejamin Agosto 2009 Skate America FD (I don't really like this team but my friend seems to think highly of this program.)

Some personal favourites from years past:

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 2008 Worlds FD (The one program that got me interested in figure skating after a long hiatus.)  
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 2007 Worlds OD  
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 2007 Worlds FD  
Meryl Davis and Charlie White 2009 4CC FD  
Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski 2008 Worlds FD  
Mao Asada 2006 Skate America SP (She skates to Nocturne, the song Hanabi and Hinata skated to last chapter.)  
Midori Ito 1990 Worlds LP (Nobody jumps like Midori Ito. Greatest female jumper of all time. I love watching her at age 11. She was one of the few girls that did triple jumps at that age.)  
Sasha Cohen 2004 Worlds SP (Favourite ladies routine of all time.)  
Michelle Kwan Salome  
Yuna Kim 2007 Worlds SP  
Daisuke Takahashi 2008 4CC SP  
Shen Xue and Hongbo Zhao 2003 Worlds LP (Only figure skating routine to have made me bawl my eyes out.)  
Evgeni Plushenko 2001 Worlds EX (Most hysterical and best skating exhibition EVER.)  
Samuel Contesti 2009 Worlds LP

Enjoy!

* * *

Tsunade could hear the emotional crescendos of "Nessun Dorma" (1) coming from a practice rink. Someone was skating to the music of Puccini's Turandot again. The music was overused in figure skating (2) but no one could express its beauty better than Asuma and Kurenai. Their Turnadot free dance (3) was one of the best dances she choreographed. Their passion and skill brought the audience to their feet before their music ended. It was perhaps the best season of her life.

The year Asuma died, Tsunade wondered selfishly if she would ever see such a magical pair ever again. Of course, somewhere along the way, a new brilliant figure skater would break out into the top ranks and dazzle the world, but it wouldn't matter to her if they weren't _her_ skaters. Tsunade coached and choreographed all her teams, and to her, she put her soul into their routines.

Tsunade walked into practice rink 1 on a Monday afternoon. The rink was silent save for the sound of skate blades across the ice. Naruto and Hinata were skating the tango with the most divine concentration. It was then that Tsunade knew that she wanted to see this team succeed and grow.

* * *

"Hanabi, watch your edge on the flip, you're flutzing." (4)

Hanabi often wondered what it would be like if her father wasn't her coach. Sure he was an Olympic medalist and all that, but it just seemed weird after a hard and miserable day of practice, you had to go home and still deal with your coach. Sometimes, it just felt unhealthy to have someone control your athletic, family and social life. School seemed to be Hanabi's only haven away from skating.

Then again, it wasn't as if Hanabi hated to skate. There was no euphoria similar to that of taking off into a jump and landing it with perfect grace. Hanabi felt powerful and somewhat special seeing that she could do something that ordinary people couldn't. That was why she loved skating to upbeat and powerful music, so she could play characters with strong personalities.

"Softer, Hanabi, you're not skating to punk rock, you're skating to Nocturne!"

Softer pieces of music were hard to skate to. Hanabi couldn't express their grace as well as her sister could. She really didn't know why her father chose this delicate little piano piece for her to skate to.

"Hiashi, you know I don't skate well to these pretty little piano pieces!"

Hanabi rarely called Hiashi, "father" or "daddy" during their practices. It just didn't feel right.

"All skaters should be versatile and be able to express a lot of things. You can't just skate to Carmen all the time!"

"You won a world title with Carmen."

"A lot of people have won tons of things by skating to Carmen, but frankly, it's getting old. In fact, any old Joe or Jane with an ounce of figure skating experience can skate to Carmen. All you have to do is wave your arms a bit, look sexy or angsty and you've got a program to Carmen. I mean, not being able to skate to Carmen is like not being able to recognize your own national flag. (5) I love Bizet and his opera, but you know Hanabi, you're better than a dime for dozen skater so start skating like one!"

* * *

"What's that?" asked Hinata. Naruto and her had just finished skating their tango and decided to take a break. She noticed that Tsunade was there and decided to see what her new coach was doing. Tsunade had some darts and what looked like a map of the world with Russia cut out of it.

"The theme for this year's original dance is folk dance," started Tsunade. One of you will toss a dart onto the map and you'll do a folk dance of the country your dart lands on."

"Why is Russia cut out?"

"Because Russian folk dances and kalinkas are way overdone. And I'm sick of doing the choreography for them." (6)

"Can I throw the dart?" asked Naruto eagerly.

"Shouldn't you let the lady choose?" countered their coach.

"I don't mind if you choose, Naruto."

"You're lucky that your partner's so nice."

Tsunade set up their "darts" game and Naruto promptly threw a dart.

"Hey! Wait until I'm completely out of the way before you throw that, punk!" Tsunade smacked him lightly on the head. Hinata giggled. Everything was so much less formal with Tsunade as their coach.

"Let's see what you've got here, Naruto… Ireland? Ok, immediate disqualification, I refuse to choreograph a Riverdance monstrosity. (7) Hinata, you try throwing a dart."

Hinata's first dart landed in the Pacific Ocean, while her second landed on…

"Spain?" Tsunade pondered for a moment. "Not bad, a flamenco isn't too unusual and I've done one before… You want to stand out but doing something crazy as your debut might not be a great idea. It's always good to show that you can do all the classic stuff before you go crazy and artsy."

This was an exciting prospect to Hinata, she had never skated to flamenco music before.

"Ok, we've got two months to get everything together so you can compete in the regional competition. I'll arrange for a training regime for you both so you guys have to work hard on the ice and also in the gym."

"We can do it!" said Hinata cheerily.

"Don't let your partner down, Naruto."

"Hey, that was an unfair accusation!"

"Why did Sakura leave you then?" asked Tsunade slyly.

"Because she had a crush on Sasuke!" yelled Naruto.

"I see, you weren't man enough for her," his coach teased.

"HEY!"

* * *

"Good, Hanabi. That was much better. Take a break and we'll work on your long program." (8)

It had been a long day for Hanabi. Her sister's new interest in ice dance made her father more focused on Hanabi's training. Sometimes she wondered if Hiashi had already completely given up on her sister's career as a single skater.

"Hey Hana, how are you feeling?" Hinata had just entered her practice rink.

"Tired." She hugged her sister tightly.

"Is there anything I could do to help?"

"No." Hanabi buried her face into her sister's shoulder. Sometimes, when she did this, she thought she could recall a few memories of her mother when she was still alive.

"Hanabi, start your warm-up for your long program," stated her father. Hinata went up to the stands to watch.

"Hey, Hinata!" It was Naruto. "Thought I'd hang out with you for a bit."

"Hana is skating her long program." They watched Hanabi in silence.

"Hey, midget's pretty good!"

"Don't call her midget."

Naruto laid his head on Hinata's shoulder. A short while later, Hinata lay her head on his. They hadn't known each other for too long but they knew that they felt safe with each other.

* * *

"So, how's my daughter doing so far?" asked Hiashi in the coaches' lounge.

"Wonderful, she's really bringing a lot of enthusiasm and motivation to the partnership," replied Tsunade. She had witnessed the cute little tableau between the two on her way to the washroom that afternoon.

"That's good."

"You know, you're a little hard on your younger daughter."

"We have very different coaching styles, Tsunade."

"Yes, I seem to recall that my good friend Jiraiya was just as hard on a set of twins once, although I must say you're a bit more Spartan than he is…"

"I thank you for your concern, but I know that Hanabi can handle the pressure."

"I don't doubt it, but remember that she's still only 7. She can go on skating, but if she doesn't like it, one of these days she's going to wonder where all of her childhood went."

Hiashi could feel a bitter taste at the back of his throat. He knew that sentiment all too well.

* * *

When Hanabi was cooling down, she saw her sister and Naruto in the stands, their heads on top of one another. She finished her cool down routine as fast as she could and went up to the stands right after she unlaced her skates.

"Hey blondie, get yourself off my sister!"

"I don't have to unless Hinata doesn't want me to lean on her!"

"Well, she doesn't so get off!"

"How do you know she doesn't, midget?"

"Both of you just stop. You should know better than to quarrel like this. Anyways, father's probably waiting for us by the exit. We'll see you tomorrow, Naruto!" The two girls got up to get their stuff from the change room and leave. As they left, Hanabi turned around and stuck her tongue out at Naruto. The blond boy did the same.

This was the beginning of a new rivalry.

* * *

1) Some of you might know this song as the one Paul Potts sang for Britain's Got Talent.

2) Other overused songs or music: music from the Phantom of the Opera, Carmen, Swan Lake, Bolero, Malaguena, Tosca, Scheherazade, Romeo and Juliet, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Rachmaninoff's piano concerto II, Dark Eyes, Firebird and I'm sure the list can go on.

3) There are 3 portions to an ice dance competition: the compulsory dance, the original dance and the free dance.

The **compulsory dance **or **CD** is a dance with standardized steps, so all skaters have to skate the same dance around the ice. The International Skating Union (ISU) has a list of all the dances along with their choreography. In each season, the ISU chooses two compulsory dances for all competitions sanctioned by the ISU. This year, they were the tango romantica and the golden waltz. The compulsory dance is useful for judges to compare the skating skills of each team since all skaters have to do the same thing. The CD is worth 10 percent of the final score.

The **original dance** or **OD **is the second portion of the ice dance competition. The ISU sets a theme and a rhythm for the music for each year. This year's theme is folk dance. The original dance is worth 40 percent of the final score.

The **free dance **or **FD** is the final portion of the competition. In the free dance, dancers can basically do whatever they want as long as they fulfill the program requirements (ie, required number of lifts, step sequences etc;) It's often the best part of the competition with the most creative routines. The FD is worth 50 percent of the final mark.

4) There are two edges in figure skating: the inside and outside edge. Now, put your feet together and imagine that they form 3 lines. One line corresponds to the line that forms when your two feet are touching. If you skate blade leans towards that "inside" part of the foot when skating, you're skating on the inside edge. If your skate with the blade leaning out the other way, you're skating on the outside edge.

Every jump is specific due to its takeoff direction, position and edge. A flutz is a common mistake among skaters. The flip jump is a jump that takes off on the back inside edge; however some figure skaters take off on the outside edge. It seems like a minor mistake, but it's considered bad technique and so skaters get penalized for it. It should also be noted that judges and technical experts have only started penalizing skaters on things like wrong edges and other mistakes like under-rotation of a jump just recently. If you watch programs before 2006, you might see a lot of skaters on the wrong edge or under-rotation without being penalized. The other day I watched my childhood hero Michelle Kwan skate a program in which she did a triple jump with a rotation almost done entirely on the ice. It made me really sad. What's worse is that the commentators praised it.

5) Pairs team Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison failed at skating to Carmen last year. It was really sad. Not in the tragic way, but in the, "You know you fail when…" way.

6) This is true by the way. Although part of the reason is because there are a lot of Russian skaters, coaches and choreographers in the sport.

7) Canadian ice dancers Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz did a Riverdance FD in 1998/1999. It was a very… unfortunate routine and um… not everyone's cup of tea. Also, I have nothing against Canadian figure skaters, I don't tend to judge figure skaters by nationality. (By the way, my favourite skaters are Canadian, I just don't like the Riverdance routine and I find Dube/Davison mentioned in note 5 very boring.) If I like your skating, I could seriously care less about where you're from. It's just that whenever I talk to some figure skating fans who aren't too deeply interested, they tend to know the skaters by nationality.

8) Unlike ice dancers, pairs and single skaters do 2 routines: the short program and the long program. They differ by their length of time and required elements.


	5. Dancing with Judges

**Ice Dance **

AN: I apologize that I haven't updated in a while and for the short chapter. Life has gone back to its normal level of busy and I will have little time to write. However, I will try my best so please keep faith in me and keep reading. Thank you to all my wonderful, wonderful readers!

I also apologize for the choppiness of this chapter. This is one of those hard transition chapters. Be prepared for time jumps and some more time jumps in the chapter ahead.

Also, the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics is upon us! Make sure to support an awesome athlete. If you don't know who to support, then I say you should default to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir because they're awesome ice dancers. Big thanks to Rose Tiger who prompted me to start writing again.

* * *

Two months passed and many things had happened. Tsunade choreographed their exciting flamenco original dance and a beautiful free dance to music from "Memoirs of a Geisha". Hinata remembered the day she began working on it with Naruto and Tsunade.

"Ok, so you two, pay attention," began Tsunade. Naruto had just told Hinata a funny story and both were now giggling at it. "There's a little story to your free dance, so make sure you keep that in mind and be in character when you skate it."

"Do I get to be a ninja?" asked Naruto.

"If you shut up and listen to me, maybe I'll choreograph an exhibition (1) number where you get to be ninja. But if you interrupt me again, I'll make you two do a horrible cowboy number (2) like you did with Sakura a year ago."

Naruto shuddered and remembered his sparkly plaid cowboy outfit that he, unfortunately, could not forget, even though he desperately wanted to.

"Anyways, Naruto in this dance, you're a puppet master and Hinata is a puppet you created. However, somewhere, somehow Hinata got her own soul and consciousness and so you want to be free from your master to do… well, whatever the hell you want. At the same time, you care for your creator and master and you're torn as to whether you should try to leave him and be free or to stay with him but be controlled for the rest of your life."

Hinata nodded. She loved getting characters. It made expressing the music a lot easier and it helped her shut everything out so she could concentrate on her skating.

"So in the choreography, be aware of each other and even if you are apart from one another, you've got to still express that you're still connected to each other. At the same time, you're going to fluctuate between being apart and being really close to each other. So don't be alarmed if your faces end up really close to each other."

Tsunade started to teach them the choreography. At first, Hinata had to adjust to skating with someone else. She had to be constantly aware of where Naruto and his limbs were. She shuddered to think what would happen if she lost concentration one day and kicked slightly too much on the left… She never really realized the danger of gliding around with knives on your feet until now. Spinning felt different now that she had to have Naruto attached to her while she spun; it was much slower than she was used to. There were no spirals and jumps, but there were lifts and side-by-side twizzles. (3)

Hinata loved twizzling. It always amazed her that sometimes, she and Naruto would twizzle in perfect unison as if they were one person. Although, that being said, they didn't achieve that perfect unison until Hinata trained for weeks to perfect it. You see, not only was Naruto used to twizzling, but he was great at it. He could spin round and round at an incredible speed, which unfortunately Hinata couldn't keep up with. As a result, Hinata spent a good part of her free time, working at the gym and on the ice to make sure her twizzles were just as fast as his. It was tough work and by now, she was able to keep up most of the time.

Lifts were exhilarating. Hinata loved rotational lifts where Naruto spun her round and round before he set her down so she could smoothly glide away. Naruto always made her tell him that she trusted him before every practice and he's never dropped her. Then again, you didn't fall every much in ice dance. Falling on footwork was unusual, although making small bobbles and mistakes was quite commonplace, which was why Tsunade was quick to help them fix these problems. In single skating, a 1 or 2 point lead was rather small and easy to make up, while in ice dance, it was considered a solid lead. Hinata knew that they had to train really hard.

"Naruto, make sure to get into the second part of that combination lift quickly or the lift will be too long!" (4) cried Tsunade in practice. Her new team had a long way to go, but she believed that they could make something of a splash at the regional championships.  


* * *

It was Sunday afternoon and they had been practicing since 5 in the morning. The regional competition was in two days and the pressure was on. In the other practice rink however…

"Ha! I got 93 pokemon and you only have 90!" exclaimed Hanabi.

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing?" asked Sasuke.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?"

"Well, Sakura and I don't practice on Sundays."

"Psht. Lazy."

"Look who's talking."

"Shut up, I'm only taking a break. Besides, I bet I could jump better than you." (5)

"I wouldn't be so sure, pipsqueak."

"Wanna bet?"

"You're on, midget and if you lose, you have to buy me lunch!"

* * *

Practice had been very fruitful today. Naruto and Hinata went through all of their routines with great success. Well... practice was mostly successful.

"Naruto! Pay attention to your feet! You look like you're barn dancing! If I knew any better, I would think that you wanted to do a barn dance program again!" yelled Tsunade.

"Dosey do and barn dance! Yeehaw!" yelled Naruto as he hooked arms with Tsunade and Hinata, swinging them wildly in circles. They all laughed. It was as if they were all part of a strange family.

* * *

As for Hanabi and Sasuke…

"Emo boy, your landing on the double lutz was lame!"

"Well, you fell on that double axel!"

"You fell on the triple toe! And you were on the wrong edge in your flip!" screamed Hanabi.

They continued bickering like such for the next half hour or so. Unbeknownst to either of them, Hiashi had been watching since this morning.

"Well… at least she's getting… constructive criticism from someone other than me…" he muttered.

"Your hair looks like a chicken's ass!" Hanabi screeched.

"Well you sound like a hideous vulture!" quipped Sasuke.

"Ok… maybe not so constructive…"

* * *

It was the week of the competition. Hanabi had just won the regional title and Hinata and Naruto were preparing to skate the second portion of the competition: the original dance. They were in third after the compulsory dance and it seemed as if they were within the reach of a medal finish. Hinata was calm. It was the first time she had felt at ease and happy at a competition. Usually, she disliked competing because she knew that if she did badly, she would disappoint her father greatly. This time, she didn't quite care. It was fun skating with Naruto and somehow, she felt that they could enchant the audience and make them forget they were watching a figure skating competition, even if they didn't win anything.

"Are you nervous, Hinata?" asked Naruto. She shook her head. He squeezed her hand in return.

"Hey, you guys are up," said Tsunade. They nodded. Naruto seemed to have a grim expression on his face.

They skated and began in their opening poses. However, once Hinata's hand was in Naruto's in dance hold, she felt something was off. They were beginning their circular step sequence when Naruto stumbled. Hinata bobbled a bit but both managed to keep their balance. She squeezed Naruto's hand reassuringly but it seemed that her partner didn't really notice. The lift went without any problems but just as they were going into the midline step sequence (they were apart in this portion) in the last minute of their program…

"Ohhh…" groaned the audience. Naruto had just fallen. Hinata felt a wave of worry flow through her. She wished she could stop and see if her partner was alright but she knew she had to keep going with the routine. The last thirty seconds felt torturous for the two of them and when the music ended, they sighed a breath of relief.

They skated to Tsunade as they waited for their marks.

"You ok, Naruto?" asked Hinata. She gave him a soothing pat on the back. The announcer had just given them their scores. They were now in sixth place. Naruto looked utterly dejected.

"Hey brat," snapped Tsunade. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you're letting your partner down. You still have tomorrow to make up for it all, so make sure you practice tonight. It's not the end of the world, just a life lesson. Besides, since when were you the type to give up?"

Naruto nodded numbly and looked straight into Hinata's eyes. They were going to practice their hearts out for the free dance – the last portion of the competition and the last chance to show the judges what they could do.

* * *

"Ready for this, you two?" asked Tsunade. Hinata and Naruto nodded in reply. They had practiced as much as they could last night and today, they knew they had to try their best.

"It'll be okay, Naruto," said Hinata. Naruto pulled his partner into a hug. They took to the ice.

As they got into their opening poses, they closed their eyes, hearing the first strains of the waltz from Memoirs of a Geisha. From the stands, Tsunade knew that they had surrendered themselves to the music. Naruto, the puppet master was trying to control Hinata, his puppet. Hinata held her master closely as they went into their straight line lift but pushed him away when it ended. As her master's creation, she loved him, but she wanted to be free. Freedom, desire, love, control... that was all that mattered to the two of them for those four minutes they were skating. When the music ended, they came back to reality, almost not realizing what they just did.

As they were waiting for their marks, Naruto asked solemnly, "So Hinata, are you going to quit ice dance?"

"Why would I? That was the best I've skated... ever!"

"Really?"

"I want to skate like that again!"

"With me?"

"Who else would I skate with?"

"Well... what I didn't say when we became partners was that Sakura left me after we screwed up badly in a competition. Mind you, we did horribly in the OD _and_ the FD. (6) I think we did pretty well in the FD in this competition, though..."

"I can't imagine skating with anyone else, Naruto." The two of them smiled. It was going to be a good partnership.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata ended up in fourth place overall. Their free dance was second only to the veterans of the region, which they knew that they would beat someday. Many of the judges saw a couple that had much potential. Others were nearly in tears at the end of the program, even though they rarely cried, even in senior competitions. There was something magical in this team and although they were in fourth place today, they knew that they would see them at the top… one day…

Were these the beginnings of a legendary team?

* * *

1. After most major competitions in the senior level, the top 4 skaters/teams in each discipline have to skate in the gala. Skaters usually do an exhibition number that contains generally easier choreography and jumps (if you're a singles or pair skater) and the routine's just supposed to be entertaining and fun. Pairs teams sometimes steal the show by performing really dangerous moves that are illegal in competition but are allowed in the gala. Personally, my favourite exhibition number still has to be Evgeni Plushenko's performance to "Sex Bomb" at 2001 Worlds. Watch it!

2. Barn dancing or whatever it is supposedly counts as a folk dance. As a result, there are a lot of unfortunate cowboy ODs out there this year.

3. A twizzle is a move where you spin as you move across the ice. In ice dance, partners have to do them side-by-side and in unison. A good twizzle is one that's really fast, with good unison and travels far across the ice.

4. In the free dance, you usually have to do at one lift that's 12 seconds long – usually a combination lift (a lift that combines several lift trajectories, for example, a straight line lift that transitions into a rotational lift) and several lifts that are 6 seconds long. You get deducted if you lift is too long or too short.

5. Hanabi has reason to believe this since single skaters do harder jumps than pairs skaters.

6. CD is the compulsory dance, OD is the original dance and FD is the free dance. For an explanation of what they are, take a look at the notes for previous chapters or wikipedia.


End file.
